New Clause 27 - Compliance with building regulations
Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill
4:45 pm
Andrew Stunell (Chief Whip; Hazel Grove, Liberal Democrat)
When I was preparing my Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill, officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister asked me to include a provision to allow for better enforcement of building regulations. As the administrators of the regulations, they fully understand that there are serious shortfalls in the way in which the current system is administered. I included such a provision in that Bill, the House approved it and it is now part of the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004. However, in the 17 months since, nothing has been done by the ODPM to bring that provision effectively into force.
New clause 27 is important and valuable, and I support it. However, it would be useful to hear from the Minister what the Government’s official view is now on the effective enforcement of building regulations. Some 18 months ago, they were apparently enthusiastically in favour to the point of urging me to include such a provision in my Bill, but we seem to have moved to a position in which they are no longer in favour of implementation or at least appear to have drawn stumps on that game. It will be interesting to hear what the Government’s attitude is to new clause 27 and, more generally, about their attitude to the principles behind it. It is one thing to have slogans and speeches and another to pass legislation, but it is a third thing to see that legislation enforced and the slogans come to pass in real policy terms.